Cindr is a game right up my alley, it’s lightweight and fun. In this game you play as a single and ready to mingle humanoid who is looking to meet hot local dragons in your area. However, as you would expect, for a humanoid dating dragons there are some risks. If a date goes poorly enough you risk being burnt. It’s not the end of the world if that happens, just be sure to learn from that experience and use that knowledge to your advantage on a future date.
The game is played using one of the provided dry erase character sheet profiles of your choice and a variety of cards and dice. You have a lovely assortment of humanoids to choose from to play as. Some of us had a ton of fun writing silly info for our character’s dating profile, but others were happy to just quickly fill the dry erase profile out and get to the game. You also pick your compatibility traits, which will be what you are looking to match with the dragon of your dreams. On your turn you will have a selection of potential dates to “swipe left or right on”. The front of the dragon cards features a little fun bio about your potential date that gives you some clues as to your compatibility, but you won’t be sure how well you match until you pick one for a date. Once you’ve chosen the dragon of your dreams, you flip the card over and see which traits you match on. Matching the trait will give you a green die (the best one), while being off by one will get you a blue one. If your traits are opposite, you will receive a red die. Each dice has a different number of hearts and flames depending on the color. Each dragon also has 2 special abilities as well that may change what or how many dice you roll, or give you some bonuses that may help score more love points.
Now on to the date! You will flip a date card and attempt to go on a three-part date with your dragon. The date location may lead to some dice changing or other things happening. The first part of the date is the “meet up”. You roll your 4 dice, and any flames get put to the side and hearts will count as love points. You can stop after the first part and bank your points, but your date won’t be impressed enough to stay around in your personal dating pool and will leave. If you want to continue to the second part of the date, re-roll your heart dice and like before, put any flames aside. 3 flames and you’re out! If your date has gone badly you will score no points. At this point you can choose to end the date and score your hearts so the dragon will stay in your dating pool, or you can risk it and go on the third and final part of the date, which may score you even more bonuses.
However many heart results you rolled in total throughout your date is your score for the date, plus any bonuses. Don’t despair if you get burnt by your date, you’ll get a second chance card that will let you re roll some number of dice on a different date next time. First to 21 points wins. This game can be played co-op or competitively. We choose to play competitively. You can steal dragons from each other, and occasionally cause other players to lose points. The co-op version has everyone go on 5 dates and your group score is totaled and judged. There is also a solo variant if you want to play by yourself, but I didn’t have a ton of fun playing that way. This is game that is more suited to be played with friends you can laugh along with.
The whole time we played there were a lot of smiles and laughs. Many jokes about the absurdity of dating a giant fire breathing reptile. With the right group of people this can be a lot of fun to play. The artwork and writing are fantastic in this fun little game. I really enjoyed making my humanoid’s profile and thinking about what kind of dragon they would want to meet. All the dragons were pretty different, and they had a variety of different fun abilities, some let you mess with your fellow players, some helped you woo your dragon, and some threw complications with the potential for big rewards at you. The artwork and stories on the cards was very unique, and all the components looked and felt like they were made from quality material. The only complaint most of us had was that the game overstays its welcome a bit. It takes a good 45 minutes to play. I prefer games like this be a bit shorter. To be fair to the game, it was the first time we played it, so perhaps it will be a bit shorter next time we play.
This game was fun, perhaps it won't be everyone's cup of tea though. Do you enjoy the idea of living out your best bard life and going on a date to the fair with the giant reptile beast of your dreams? This may be the game for you. I wish it was a bit shorter, as it’s more of a fun, “let's play this when we want a break from more serious games” type of game. I look forward to playing it some more, though it may not be my first choice to pull out for a quick and fun party game.
PROS
- Great artwork and writing
- Easy to learn and play
- The components included are nice quality
CONS
- A bit long for a simple game
- The solo variant wasn’t very fun
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